The Giant Probably Went to Majorca

Because it is freezing here! After we landed in Dublin we immediately caught a bus to Belfast. We had wanted to see a few places in some of the historical districts and the botanical gardens, but the weather seriously dampened our enthusiasm (and our luggage, our clothes, etc.) We ended up at the Lush (we are going to have to seek out some kind of treatment program to get over our addiction to that place!) where we grilled the staff about why they sell tote bags, but not t-shirts. We also were sad to see we had missed the Titanic Maritime Festival featuring tall ship racing! Who wouldn’t love to watch tall ships race? We felt like the festival name was a little iffy. Why would you name your maritime festival after one of the world’s most famous maritime disasters? I know the Titanic was made there – so were a lot of ships. Shipbuilding is one of their big claims to fame. Surely they made some other famous vessel; one that didn’t sink killing 1500+ people.

Anyway, the city was really not at its best in the rain; everything was looking pretty grim. Our guest house was next to the university, and those sad children were graduating in the torrential downpour. They were huddled under wholly inadequate umbrellas lined up outside the buildings their academic gowns sodden and colorful hoods dripping. Damp family clustered under every awning for blocks. We were having some fairly serious second thoughts about our trip out to Giant’s Causeway. The weather did not seem propitious for a cliff scramble along the North Sea.

In the morning we decided to go regardless. Who knows when we might be back in Northern Ireland again? The weather never did make a decision, which worked out enough. The moments when we were sure we’d be blown off the rocks and into the sea or slip in the rain and crash onto the hexagonal blocks below were interspersed with moments of glorious blue sky and sparkling sun.

So what is Giant’s Causeway? Well, it depends on who you ask. Legend says that Irish giant Finn MacCool was challenged to a fight by a Scottish giant. Finn built the causeway across the channel to Scotland so the two could do battle. When Finn realized that the Scottish giant was much larger than himself, he had his wife disguise him as a baby. When the Scottish giant, Benandonner, saw how big the “baby” was he decided he had zero interest in fighting the father. As he fled back to Scotland, he destroyed the causeway behind him.

Geologists will tell you the peculiar formations of Giant’s Causeway are the result of volcanic activity and are formally known as columnar basalt. An eruption of highly fluid lava 60 million years ago created a volcanic plateau. As the lava cooled, it contracted and created hexagonal columns that are nearly 100 feet thick in some places. This cooling and cracking is quite similar to the drying of mud. Weathering and erosion has broken the columns down to varying heights leaving a curious surface to be scrambled about and slipped on by visitors. The site was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986.

This boy is on fire!

Man, actually, and to tell the truth it was just the bagpipe – and even that wasn’t ON fire. It shot flames though and that was pretty good. Our train was late from Inverness, and everyone was sad about it because we had all loved Edinburgh so much we wanted every possible minute on our return. We were technically only there to catch a plane back to Ireland, but were looking forward to a few more hours there.

We walked out to our hotel – forgetting that Edinburgh is a slow walking town. I don’t even know what I mean by that except that it takes forever to get anywhere. We walk everywhere, we all like to walk, and all walk at a pretty good pace usually – except in Edinburgh! It was only a couple of miles, but it took every bit of an hour! After checking in we headed back to the Royal Mile in quest of that obscenely decadent caramel shortbread and that was where we saw the flaming bagpipe. I can understand that it must be exceedingly difficult to distinguish yourself from the massive herds of pipers with which the tourist district abounds. The Royal Mile is like Garibaldi Plaza in Mexico City – they are everywhere. This guy is definitely winning at standing out – for the minute. I cannot imagine where you go from here though.

A block or so down, we saw the competition! A young boy, about 9 or 10, fully kitted out, was absolutely slaying the crowd. He was adorable, and again, we wondered, “How do you top that? A six year old girl with bright coppery curls and brilliant blue eyes?” Not sure, but if we could be back next weekend we might see!

We walked back to begin the luggage engineering challenge where we repacked everything over and over again until we could meet Ryan Air’s exacting requirements. We are sorry to leave Scotland so soon. What a lovely place!

No orcs in Orkney

Yes, it is as cold as it looks.

Unbelievably they refer to themselves as Orkadians, which is a lot less fun. In any case, their islands (70ish of them – depending on how high the tide is) are quite lovely, and we were again compelled to be sad about how little time we had. We always blunder around by ourselves, but tight time constraints pushed us into an organized tour. Not that the driver or the company was in any way at fault, but it was validation of our preference for bumbling through places on our own as we were hustled from site to site (like we were being pursued by Orcs!) with scarcely 40 minutes per site to explore.

We started out from Inverness at 7:15 – the bus station was, thankfully, right next to the hostel. Unfortunately, everything was closed and it was far too early and cold (11 degrees Celsius!) to be up without the reinforcement of coffee. Brad set out on an intrepid voyage of exploration of the environs and returned covered in laurels (ie. coffee, hot chocolate, and breakfast pastries from the Costa – which is better than leaves). The long ride to John O’Groats was enlivened by commentary about what we could have seen if a massive wave of fog hadn’t rolled in producing white-out conditions. All the model villages we weren’t seeing were the product of the “clearances”. A difficult period in Scottish history when wealthy landowners removed their tenants from their small holdings.

We had only 20 minutes to explore John O’Groats, a location known to us solely from the expression “from Land’s End to Jon O’Groats” and the long distance walking/ cycling trail. In the event, it proved more than enough time as it was raining sideways and had dropped to 9 degrees!  The ferry was a few minutes late – understandably as the sea was very rough! Our next bus was waiting when we arrived and whisked us off to Kirkwall.

St. Magnus Cathedral

En route we saw Scapa Flow, a large natural harbor, and heard of its wartime disposition and significance. The Royal Navy was based here during WWI, and to protect it all access from the east was blocked by a barricade of scuttled ships. After the war the German fleet was remanded here until its fate was decided in negotiations. A few hours short of the decision, the sailors sunk the fleet. Most of the fleet was salvaged, but there are still a few ships which are popular dive sites. In WWII, the British again decided to house the fleet in Scapa Flow. However, in the intervening years the ship blockade had deteriorated due to salvage operations and the natural shifting of vessels. These gaps were successfully navigated by U-Boat 47 a bare month into hostilities and the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk. Winston Churchill ordered the construction of real barriers out of immense blocks. These created causeways connecting island to island by road instead of only ferries. The causeways were constructed by Italian prisoners of war, who also constructed the Italian Chapel.

Kirkwall is the largest city in the Orkneys and home to the St. Magnus Cathedral. It is a Romanesque building constructed of red and yellow sandstones quarried in Orkney. The original structure dates from the 12^th century when Orkney was still part of Norway (as it was until 15^th century). It is named for Magnus, Earl of Orkney who was martyred by his cousin and fellow earl. The building was spared the worst of the Reformation and is one of the best preserved medieval buildings in Britain. Today, St. Magnus is no longer a cathedral, but a parish church in the Church of Scotland. The cathedral was toured at a jog as we had only 50 minutes and knew some kind of food would need to happen as well.

Skara Brae

We raced across the street to wolf down some lunch, as a packet of mini muffins split between 3 people wasn’t going to allow any of us to keep producing enough body heat to stave off hypothermia. We split a cheese toastie, soup, and bere bannocks. Bere bannocks are a fantastically delicious bread made from some highly specialized grain – 6 row barley? only grown in Orkney. Anyhow, it was wonderful and we made it back to the bus with a whole 2 minutes to spare! 

Skara Brae was the reason for our journey to these islands. It is the centerpiece of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "The Heart of Neolithic Orkney”. It is Europe’s best preserved Neolithic village. At first jaundiced glance (10 degrees and raining sideways – let’s remember and excuse the pettishness!) it looked like a mini golf for Hobbits. Exquisitely manicured emerald carpet of grass in gentle mounds and valleys protecting stone circles. After we got in among them we quickly got over the weather!

The site, a stone built Neolithic settlement on the Bay of Skaill, features eight houses grouped together, and they are in amazing condition for homes built before the Great Pyramids!

The village, estimated to have been occupied between 3100-2500 BCE, was discovered after a massive storm in 1850 blew the top off a protrusion called “Skerrabra” exposing the outline of the village. The local laird, William Watt, started digging and uncovered several of the houses. The work stopped there, and the site was left intact until 1913, when a group of thieves went to work over a weekend pillaging unknown quantities of artefacts. Another severe storm damaged one of the exposed houses, and it was decided to formally protect and properly excavate the site.  

It has been a gold mine of information about the daily lives of Neolithic peoples! The houses were built into pre-historic middens, sort of trash berms that protected the homes against the ravages of fierce storms and provided insulation as well. The houses are approximately 430 sq. ft. with a large square room centered on a good sized stone hearth. They feature built in stone furnishings: seats, storage containers, shelves, and a sort of dresser-like piece.  Seven buildings have very similar arrangements – beds and storage in the same locations even with large beds on the right and smaller beds on the left. Homes were entered through low doorways that had a sliding bar to close them. One feature that we really liked were the stone store boxes set in the ground that were sealed on the sides to waterproof them. It suggests that they were used to store living sea creatures – mollusks for bait or possibly crabs or other tasty crustaceans for dinner!

House 8 is definitely the odd-man out. It doesn’t have the storage pieces and is divided into several sections. This space yielded fragments of bone, stone, and antler when excavated and these pieces as well as its unique construction – it stands apart from the others and wasn’t built into an old midden, the walls are very thick and it has a sheltering “awning” over the entrance – suggest that it might have been some sort of workshop.

Unlike at Stonehenge, you can hug these
megaliths

The inhabitants of Skara Brae are referred to as Grooved Ware People (due to the prevalence of this type of pottery at the site). They were principally herdsmen, raising cattle and sheep, but the presence of fish bones and shells provide evidence that seafood was part of their diet as well.

A Neolithic “low road’ connects Skara Brae with the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Steness, and ends at the passage tomb of Maeshowe. This has led to some wonderfully entertaining theories of Skara Brae culture featuring mystical shaman-types performing magical ceremonies and processing between the various sites. Not that there is any reason the inhabitants should not have had a rich and elaborate spiritual life; they did build these other sites, but most evidence at this site seems to point to ordinary people living ordinary lives, herding their animals, cooking, fishing, making tools, and the like. Even Neolithic man cannot live by astronomy alone!

Back on the bus and with scarcely enough time to register our heartfelt gratitude for quick dry travel pants we arrived at the Ring of Brodgar. This site, like Avebury & Stonehenge, is unusual in having both a henge and a stone circle (Stonehenge – the most famous of these combination sites, isn’t actually a “true” henge! Its bank is inside the ditch instead of outside. This one lacks any encircling bank.) The ring stands on a sloping hillside sandwiched between Loch Steness and Loch Harray. It is thought to have been erected between 2500-2000 BCE, but exact scientific dating has been problematic.

It is the 3^rd largest stone circle in Britain at 341 ft. in diameter and originally had around 60 stones. Today there are only 27, and they are not all standing – one was felled by lightning just a few years ago. Here there is no barrier and you can walk right up to and in among the stones. The views over the surrounding countryside and lochs are stunning.

This whole area (as evidenced by its designation as a UNESCO World heritage Site!) is an extraordinary concentration of ancient sites. It was raining sideways again so we all settled for a drive by of the Standing Stones of Steness & Maeshowe. We did have a quick look at the ongoing excavations. These archeological examinations continue to reveal settlement activity and a rich trove of artefacts and information from the prehistoric period.

Our last stop was at the Italian Chapel. This Italian POWs held in the Orkneys requested permission to construct a chapel and were given two Quonset huts and very little else to work with. They managed to create a remarkable space Trompe l’oeil vaulted ceiling, decorative brickwork, stained glass, and even floor tiles marvelously executed impress instantly. The screen was produced from scrap metal and the lanterns and sconces cut from Bully beef tins. It is an extraordinary achievement! These prisoners were inarguably the inheritors of the same faith and skill that wrought such miracles at chapels in real materials in their native land. They were so dedicated to this endeavor that when the war ended, several asked permission to stay and complete their work!

It was a whirlwind tour of these northern islands to say the least. We would have probably cut a few sites and extended our stay at the others, but it all worked out. We reversed our journey and arrived back in Inverness at about 9:30. Fortunately, restaurants were open until 11 pm!  We were able to eat our first real meal of the day and then pack to be ready to catch the first train to Edinburgh in the morning.

York 2: Son of York

Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this son of York

It has indeed been a glorious summer and this amazing experience in York made possible thanks to the generosity of Fund for Teachers and their donors. We are speechlessly grateful for this opportunity and are eager to take what we have learned back to the classroom.

But now for week 2 of our Archaeology Live! course in summery York.

Roman fresco discovered beneath York Minster

Upon returning to York, we dropped our things at the hotel and headed back to the center of town. First, we wanted to find the crepe food cart that sets up in High Ousegate on weekends. Second, we wanted another trip through the Jorvik Viking Center. It was really about reprocessing tier displays and information through the lens of all we had learned the previous week on our dig.

Leaving Jorvik, we headed over to the Minster. Having been there for evensong made us eager to have a chance to wander around looking at everything. Our previous post described the principal features of the nave, but this time we were able to see the other areas. Behind the High Altar is the east window which is currently entirely obscured by scaffolding as it undergoes a renovation. There are interesting displays (interactive and hands on!) about the preservation and restoration of the glass and another large area dedicated to the work being done on the exterior. The Minster was built with limestone blocks originally, later repairs utilized a variety of different stone (whatever was most readily available at that particular moment, likely). These alternative materials have reacted quite differently to environmental conditions than the original Caen limestone. They are in the process of replacing the old repair stone with the correct limestone which involves a great deal of quite skilled masonry.

Inside the Minster's chapter house

In the north transept is an astronomical clock that honors members of the Royal Air Force killed in the line of duty. This sits by the entrance to the chapter house. We have seen some interesting chapter houses in this trip, but York Minster’s might be the best. It does not have the central column leading up to a fan vaulted ceiling like the others we have encountered. It does have the little seating nooks around its circumference and above these are little carved faces. Some are animals and some are monsters, but most are people, some of whom are making faces or being attacked by demons. The most interesting thing however is that each one is different.

York Minster as it stands today was built on the foundations of earlier structures. As the Minster was expanded, the weight on those foundations increased. About 30 years ago, it was noticed that the central tower was twisting and that large cracks were appearing in the stonework. Structural engineers were called in and warned that the Minster was in imminent danger of collapse. The original foundations were being crushed under the weight of the present building and were in desperate need of reinforcing. While this work was happening, archaeologists were given the opportunity to excavate in the Minster’s undercroft and what they uncovered is amazing. They found the remains of the Roman principia which once stood at the center of the fortress. Columns, floors, even parts of a frescoed wall with its colors intact were discovered. An interesting exhibit has been installed that shows the repairs, the archaeological finds, and how it all ties into the history of the Minster.

On our way back to the hotel we walked past Clifford’s Tower, the hilltop remains of York Castle which once stood beside the river as part of its medieval defenses. We were too late to go in sadly, but some of us raced up the side, which we later noticed signs tell you not to do.

Taking levels for one of our burials

Our first order of business on Monday morning was to do the documentation for the burial we uncovered our first week. This was the adolescent/young adult whose skull was badly damaged probably due to the shallowness of the grave. We started with laying out the grid squares and using the tape measures and plumb bob to complete our drawing. We did a composite drawing, that is, one that includes multiple contexts (each find is a different context number). In this case, the skeleton, coffin, and grave cut are each a separate context number. Later, once all the measuring and sketching were done, we traced each context on to its own drawing. We used the surveying equipment to take the levels and completed the context cards for each number. Finally, we sifted some soil and refilled the excavation.

Zada sorting and bagging finds

We then assigned a new context number to the half of our plot that we had not found a grave in and began to dig that area. We did not make much progress uncovering the grave we presume to be below that day. Our afternoon was spent washing finds which is always nice, especially this week as it afforded us a chance to get out of the sun.

Tuesday arrived with a forecast for more sunny weather and the promise of even hotter temperatures. Those of you following along in Houston will laugh at what passes for hot in York which is anything past 80. But trust me, 85 sitting in full sun hunched over a hole in the ground that you are scraping deeper with a trowel and emptying with a small shovel is enough to make you appreciate a little shade. The first morning session was spent digging and sieving our supposed grave backfill. Zada was moved to a slot of medieval material between the path and the former cemetery because there was no longer room for 3 people in our area. The second session, we got a break from digging in order to measure and draw the plan for the lane running between the dig site and the church. This area was once a street and so should have medieval archaeology underneath, rather than an abundance of 19^th century burials. The plan is to begin excavating it later this summer, but of course, before the sledgehammers come out, we have to record what was there before any digging. At that time of the morning the path was well shaded so we did not need to reslather ourselves with sunblock. Also, it was good practice with drawing plans using the grid squares.

After lunch we did some more digging. We found the usual interesting bits of pottery ranging from Roman to Victorian, and of course, many bits of brick and mortar. Still, nothing was revealed. We also did our usual turn washing finds.

After work, we went to the Minster for evensong one last time. The choir was all girls’ voices and of course it was lovely. The anthem in particular was beautiful. The setting of the Magnificat (Westminster Service) was a little different and not one we are hoping to hear again. The postlude was excellent. It was overall a wonderful service in a magnificent space. We had dinner at the Pizza Express which I don’t think we have mentioned but it is a favorite with Zada and it was her turn to pick. They have a menu item called “dough balls” which are just that. They are served with three tasty substances in which to dip them, garlic butter, pesto, and something red, which is delicious.

Wednesday was projected to be the hottest day of the week, but also included a chance of rain and more clouds. When we started digging, it was not long before we came upon the telltale signs of a coffin; little bits of metal plating and tiny nails, and the impression of the decorated wood in the soil. This burial was a bit lower than the previous one, but still fairly shallow, and occupied the right hand side of the remaining half of our original trench. A bit of careful scraping with the clay working tools revealed the sides of a fairly narrow coffin meaning the burial of an infant or young child. We continued digging with the fine tools and came upon what we took to be the skull. Several minutes of delicate work followed. As more of the “skull” emerged, it took on a decidedly misshapen appearance, not broken, just oddly shaped. Then we figured out that it was a rock. This rock had fallen in on the coffin and smashed in one side. We did not have to dig much more before the actual skull appeared. Like the last one, it was badly damaged by time and the weight of later constructions on the site. We also uncovered the tiny radius and ulna bones of a left arm. Their size left no doubt that we had uncovered an infant burial.

Due to the fragile nature of the remains, we did not continue excavating because the chances of damaging or losing some of the bones is too high. We assigned context numbers for the remains, coffin, and grave cut. Then we photographed the finds. The rest of the documentation work was set aside until the next day in order for us to fine sieve the material we had dug out of the burial. This involved using water and a fine mesh sieve to make sure that we had not accidentally removed any tiny bones while we were digging. Fortunately, we did not find any.

Completing a drawing of the church lane

That afternoon, the church warden Robert arrived to give us a tour of the church. We mentioned the self-guided tour we gave ourselves last week, but it is far more interesting with someone who knows the place so well. He showed us one of the columns in the aisles that is a recycled Roman piece. The roof timbers on one side have been dated using dendrochronology to the year 1080. (Apparently there is a huge database in Britain of tree ring timelines to which archaeological wood finds can be compared.) The trees from which those timbers were cut grew in Sherwood Forest (as in Robin Hood’s turf) and are identical to some of the timbers used in Lincoln and Ely Cathedrals. Robert told us all about the windows and their histories. One of the most interesting things was the story of Emma Roughton who was an anchoress that lived in a little cell behind the building. The squint in the wall through which she watched Mass & took part in the Eucharist is still there. Emma was well known for having visions and making predictions about the future that often turned out to be accurate. She claimed to have been visited 7 times by the Virgin Mary who, among other things, told her that King Henry V would die and that his infant son Henry VI would be crowned. Robert’s knowledge of the church is truly encyclopedic and we can’t do any justice to his presentation in such a brief summary!

First thing Thursday, we got to work documenting the infant burial we uncovered. We measured and drew a composite drawing. Then we recorded levels for the 3 different contexts we were documenting. Next we traced the contexts from the composite drawing each onto its own sheet and wrote in the measured levels. Finally we completed the context cards for the each context, the remains, the coffin, the grave cut, and the backfill. This is all a fairly lengthy process, but having done the matrix session with Toby the previous week, we were starting to better understand how all of this data can be used to generate a timeline of what went on in this space almost 200 years ago. The matrix shows how the contexts fit together and helps make sense of the finds.

The record keeping work took almost the whole morning. Around noon we finished those tasks and had just enough time to assign a context number to the remaining bit of our trench, presuming it to contain yet another burial, and draw it. After lunch we were sent to the Tree of Finds. This time, we were not washing, but sorting the finds into groups and then labeling and bagging them to be sent to the specialists who will decide if they are worth keeping. As with the other record keeping involved in archaeological fieldwork, the labeling has to be done just so. It has to be exceptionally neat, with every piece of information in exactly the right place. Some types of finds have a two letter code like “AB” for animal bone and “PO” for pottery. Those are of course easy to fit on a small label and are short so chances to make a mistake are limited. Then there are objects whose names must be written out like “fired clay tobacco pipe” and “animal horn core” which offer numerous opportunities to slip up or have someone bump the table while you are writing.

Last session we photographed and then began digging the last bit of our trench, the one in which we had not yet found a grave. Several curiosities turned up as we went. First, there were some bits of pottery that were much larger than anything we had been finding the previous few days. One was a piece of medieval green glaze about 4 inches in diameter and a piece of a Norman gritty ware vessel with about a third of the rim intact. Stranger still, we did not find any evidence of a coffin, but we found some human bones. One was a very small piece of a pelvis and a humerus, small, but so large that did not seem likely to belong to the owner of the pelvis. We also uncovered a few pieces of skull, quite thin so likely belonging to a small child. Then there were some odd animal bones and a few large pieces of tile. We worked to the end of the day, and no coffin appeared. The human bones we found may be evidence of intercutting graves. That is, one burial’s cut disturbing a previous burial cause some of the remains to get jumbled.

Thursday evening is always a jaunt with Toby around York listening to the tales of the city’s incredible history. Last week was mostly focused on the Minster side of the River Ouse. This week we walked the right side of the river. This side’s development was far less influenced by the Roman fortress. This side of the river was where the colonia was located. That is the civilian settlement attached to the fortress. Being outside the fort, it did not have the same rigid lay out and so has a different character. We walked along the city walls for a ways stopping to look at the former railroad headquarters which is now a 5 star hotel. We went around to Mickelgate which leads out on to the road we stayed on last week. It turns out that that road follows the Roman road out of town. There is a church a bit further on that has pre-conquest origins. The tower has a great number of stones taken from Roman buildings incorporated into it. Crossing the river we saw the former castles that guarded the approach to York from down river, one of which is Clifford’s which some of us stormed earlier in the week. Again, the wealth of knowledge is too much to be recalled. It is too bad that we can’t stay all summer and go on the Thursday night walk every week.

Thank you Fund for Teachers!

Our last day was, sadly, a half day owing to the need to leave in time to get all the way to Inverness. We dug in (pun so much intended) right away. Before long, we uncovered the well preserved edge of a coffin with the traditional Dracula shape. Certain now that we would be coming upon bones, we swapped trowels for the fine work tools and continued excavating. For a while nothing appeared which seemed odd. This burial was certainly deeper than the other two and the digging became quite awkward. Then, strangely, we found the bottom of the coffin, without finding its inhabitant. We widened our search a bit and finally found an adult’s left clavicle (collar bone). Further down, we uncovered a couple of ribs and just to the left of those we found a humerus. This was an adult burial above which our two young people had been buried. Unfortunately, the documentation work of these finds had to be left to someone in week 3 because uncovering all of that took us right up to lunch. We said our goodbyes and, after a hasty lunch at the Circles for one last scone with clotted cream and jam, went to the station for the long ride to Inverness.

The Garden of Edin(burgh)

Looking up to Edinburgh Castle

Scotland! Shortbread, tartan, bagpipes, Ivanhoe – it’s all true! We arrived about 8:30 pm and were immediately greeted by the skirl of the pipes and the dramatically dark and forbidding outline of Edinburgh castle high on its craggy, volcanic perch. The beautiful capital of Scotland has been a tourist magnet since Sir Walter Scott rebranded it. The walk from the train station to our hotel took us along some of its steep, twisting streets.

Saturday dawned sunny and fairly warm making excellent weather for walking. As we climbed the road leading up to the Castle, our intended starting point for the day, we encountered a band in full Scottish regalia, from the kilts to the tall bear skin hats. Further up the road were several military vehicles, soldiers in fatigues standing at attention, and a group of soldiers in dress uniform drilling with rifles. We asked a saxophone player what was going on and were informed that June 27^th is Armed Services Day and that we had found the starting point of the parade. After a few moments the drums and bagpipes began and the assembly marched off leaving us to climb the steps up to the castle.

Pooh makes a friend

I am sure that the entry to Edinburgh Castle and the view from there down the Royal Mile is usually quite a sight to see. However, at the moment, it is not. There is a temporary stadium of some sort erected in front of the castle which mars the atmosphere horribly. I do not know what event this set up portends, but personally I was having visions of Yanni Live at the Acropolis.

The castle is clearly the number one thing to see when one arrives in Edinburgh as evidenced by the thick coat of people covering it. The rock on which the castle sits has been inhabited since the Iron Age and there has been a castle there since the 12^th century. The present structure dates from the late 1500s on with the exception of St. Margaret’s Chapel which is from the 12^th century. The views it offers, at least on the kind of sunny day we had, are stunning. The viewpoints provide helpful illustrations identifying the landmarks visible from each. Mary Queen of Scots lived there at times and we saw her apartments which appear to have been the victim of some rather iffy restoration work. The rooms are not furnished or decorated - save for some paintings on the wall so you are standing in a bare room that Mary occupied.

FREEEEEDOOOOM!!!!

A more impressive site are the Crown Jewels of Scotland, officially known as the Honours of Scotland. These predate the Crown Jewels we saw in the Tower of London by over 100 years. They consist of a crown, scepter, and sword of state. They survived the rule of Cromwell by being smuggled and hidden around the country. They were used at the coronation of Charles II but remained in Scotland where they sat in on sessions of the Parliament representing the Monarch. In 1707 the Acts of Union dissolved the Scottish Parliament and the Crown Jewels were locked away in a chest in Edinburgh Castle and forgotten for over 100 years. In 1818, a group including Sir Walter Scott went on an explore of Edinburgh Castle and recovered the Jewels. They have been on public display since.

Displayed alongside the crown jewels is a curious object called the Stone of Scone, or the Stone of Destiny. The stone was used in the coronations of Scottish kings since times no forgotten. In 1296 Edward I of England captured the stone and had it placed under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. There it stayed until 1950 when it was stolen from Westminster by 4 Scottish nationalist students who drove it to Scotland, breaking it in the process. (How 4 people could walk out of Westminster wrestling with the weight of a 335 pound rock that is almost 2 feet long and not get stopped is beyond me.) The thieves handed the bits of stone to a politician who had it repaired. Then it was left on the altar of an abbey of the Church of Scotland like a baby on a doorstep and finally the London police were notified. It was taken back to Westminster in 1951 and last used in the coronation of Elizabeth II. In 1996, the stone was formally handed back to Scotland and put on display with crown jewels. Presumably they will truck the thing down to London the next time they have a coronation.

Before leaving the castle grounds, we stopped in their shop which sold many wonderful things like Harris Tweed magnets shaped like deer and 100 different tartan patterned ties. The greatest find here however is a confection called “Tablet”. (That is its real name. A guy on our dig who is from Edinburgh told us.) Imagine a pill that you could take that would make you diabetic. That’s tablet. It is made of sugar and condensed milk, oh, and butter. It makes your teeth hurt. Sitting here typing about it days later is making my fillings ache. Zada tried to eat the whole thing at once.

Having seen all we could of the castle, we headed out onto the Royal Mile. This is the name given to the mile long road running from Edinburgh Castle down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament building. It is essentially a mile of shopping and restaurants, and I don’t mean to sound like that is a bad thing. Every shop seems to sell sweaters, scarves, kilts, and Walker’s Shortbread Cookies. We were not 10 yards from the exit to Edinburgh Castle’s temporary stadium when the siren song of commerce called us in to a 4 story palace of woolen treasures, many of which had a tartan pattern. Purchases were made. Sadly, one of them was not the “full kilt package” on offer EVERYWHERE for 99£.

St. Giles Cathedral

Carrying on, we discovered a street musician about every 200 yards and most of these were bagpipers in full kilted glory. They were not, however, all playing “Amazing Grace” or “Scotland the Brave”. Many were branching out into contemporary music. My favorite was the guy covering AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”. We passed St Giles Cathedral with its dark spire. We explored some of the side “streets” called closes. These are not streets in the conventional sense in that most of them are actually staircases connecting the Royal Mile with roads further down the hill. Many of them lead into nice patio areas with cafes and are a welcome respite from the relentless chatter of people on the main road.

St. Giles interior

After a time, we made it down to Holyroodhouse. This is where the Queen spends part of the year. She was in residence, so we weren’t able to go in – strangely, we couldn’t get into Buckingham Palace either. She was in residence there when we were in London. Do you think she is following us? This palace, dating from the 12^th century, is at the opposite end of the Royal Mile, and across the street from the Scottish Parliament building. Scotland’s parliament meets in this extremely modern looking construction. It just does not have the classical grandeur of the US Capitol or the German Reichstag or the Houses of Parliament. It sort of looks like a student union building on a large college campus, like New Zealand’s Beehive.

Queen Elizabeth's little place in Edinburgh

From Holyrood, it is all up hill. We refreshed ourselves with lunch at a pleasant café serving falafel humus wraps and lentil soup with chips (that’s English for French fries). Finally, after a bit more window shopping as well as actual shopping, we made it to St. Giles Cathedral. It has what is known as a crown steeple so called because it looks like a crown atop the central tower of the church. There has been a church on the site for at least 900 years, but the current building dates from the late 14^th century. Extensive restoration work in the 19^th century is evident particularly in the windows. The brickwork in the ceiling vaults above the chancel are spectacular. Most of the stained glass is from the 19^th century as older windows were removed during the Reformation.

We completed our day with a snack at the Deacon’s House Café. It is located down one of the aforementioned closes in a cozy room with murals on the walls depicting scenes from the life of Deacon Brodie (a respectable cabinet maker by day/ burgler with a gambling addiction and multiple secret families by night – he was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde"). Their shortbread cookies must be made from angel tears and unicorn magic because they were beyond amazing. They also had a caramel chocolate wonderfulness on shortbread that is certainly what they eat for dessert in heaven.

Scottish unicorn

We are back in Edinburgh next weekend after our trip to Skara Brae. It will be another too quick visit, but we are thrilled to have another dose of bagpipers and divine desserts!